Dragons and Cupids and Tigers, Oh My!

Raise your hand if you knew Valentines Day 2010 was the same day as the Chinese New Year.

It's a dilemma for someone who loves holidays as much as I do to decide how to handle a double decker kind of day.

One year Matthew's birthday fell on Easter. Obviously, we couldn't not celebrate both, so instead we turned Matthew's party into an Easter Egg hunt. Then there was the year I graduated with my doctoral degree during Mother's Day weekend. Graduation isn't exactly a holiday, but after three years of rigorous work and giving birth to a dissertation, I intended to celebrate like it was a national holiday. My mother, mother in-law, and I compromised. We celebrated graduation and motherhood while receiving manicures and pedicures from a local spa in Athens, Georgia.

So snubbing the Chinese New Year simply because we Americans can out commercialize the rest of the world didn't seem right.

Luckily, the Chinese love the color red as much as Cupid.

Matthew and I decided on a compromise for his classmates. Traditional red Chinese envelopes made from felt (not paper) and filled with a mixture of Chinese tokens and good old fashioned American chocolates. Kids get their much anticipated candy and China, a civilization dating back somewhere around 67,000 years, gets the respect it deserves.

And don't think I won't milk this one on Sunday night when I suggest we eat Chinese food for dinner. How about you? What will you be doing on Valentines Day? And, are any of you Celebrating the Year of the Tiger?

Signing off until tomorrow...

Get to the Point

Side note. Has anyone else noticed Ray Wattson roaming the front page of our blog sporting all kinds of construction equipment? Monday a blue print, yesterday a ruler, today a shovel. What's he up to?

Food. That's the thing that holds today's blog topic together.

First food of old. Does anyone remember last April when we hosted our very first Fancy Flours Cookie Cutter Challenge? I was tasked with using a porcupine cookie cutter to celebrate Earth Day. Most memorable was the "sharp" (no pun intended), but anonymous reader who was kind enough to point out that I packaged my porcupine cookies in plastic bags. All while I had the nerve to ask, "What quill you do to help save Mother Earth?" Ouch... literally and figuratively.

The high of the day, however, was when one of our oh-so-creative-readers suggested using the porcupine to celebrate Valentine's Day. Her slogan, you might have guessed, was... "I'm stuck on you."

I know a good idea when I hear one, so I couldn't wait to bake up my very own batch of pink, red, and white porcupines. This will make the perfect treat for all the teachers and helpers at Matthew and Jack's school.

Next. More food.

Monday Struble Suds provided a great recap of Highlowaha's Super Bowl Snack Throwdown. Cristine shined like Howard Cosell, giving a play by play of Kate's Frito Fantasy Candy versus Ray's Two Bean Lettuce Wrap. Nobody commented. Nobody.

I am going to venture to say it's because the team we were all rooting for (Team Kate) didn't win. It's like the Yankees and their billion dollar pompous baseball team swooping in and winning the World Series again, when other teams are harder working and far more likeable.

But we must be good sportsmen - or women. So, hard as it may be... Congratulations Ray Wattson on your winning recipe and for earning the title as champion of Highlowaha's Second Annual Snack Throw Down.

And now, painful as it is.. May I present to you your limited edition Super Bowl.

Speech. Speech.

FritoRay here. So, what can I say? I'd like thank all the little people who helped make this possible. Thanks to the patrons of Struble Sud's who recognized that children, because of their size, should only get half a vote. Thanks to the gallons of beer for spurring on the festivities. Thanks to Kate, who overestimated the sophistication of the beer addled midwest pallet that will unthinkingly select any snack with sausage in it over any snack without. Thanks to the Commissioner of the league. Thanks to my hairy armed sous chef. And a special thanks to Matt and Christine Struble for................

Now about this bowl. I've been thinking about this bowl. My friends have told me that I should keep this bowl and enjoy it as a symbol of my greatness. I think this is too shortsighted a viewpoint. It's a really cool bowl and blessed with my image; but, I'm fortunate enough to have several mirrors in the house. I'm thinking what Kate and her blog needs is a little, well... me. A little Ray Wattson. So, Kate, I'm going to have Claudia send you the bowl. I know, I know, I don't have to do this. And, yes, I am the coolest. Stop stop stop. Just take the bowl. You can owe me one.

FritoRay Out.

Bad Apple

Can we all agree that sometimes trying to shine means taking a chance only to fall flat on your face?

Today's post was supposed to be great. It was supposed to shine and to provide you with another fun idea for Valentine's Day. It was supposed to showcase the great apple-shaped basket I found on sale at World Market for $1.38. Eyes in a basket with a note attached saying "You are the Apple of my Eye." It was supposed to be witty... maybe even clever.

It wasn't supposed to look more like a creepy Halloween treat than a romantic Valentine's gift. Or a April Fools joke more than a thoughtful gesture. But, alas I failed.

Sometimes we try to shine and we fail. It's o.k. though. There's always tomorrow.

Don't want to wait until then? Make a suggestion to improve my failed attempt. And, if you think that's useless, let's play Scrabble. Using the letters above U*R*T*H*E*O*F*M*Y, form a word.

Make a Fortune

It is my good fortune to bring you today's Valentine's Day gift idea. Four dollars and about forty minutes. That's what you'll need to create you own.

Using a glass, trace a circle onto poster board. Cut out.

Trace and cut circles from red and pink sheets of foam

Place glitter in one bowl and Craft Foam Glue in another.

Using a craft brush, apply foam glue to half of foam circle on both sides.

Dip both sides in glitter.

Let dry.

While drying, cut stripes of paper and write Valentine messages.

Put slip of paper in center of foam circle, parallel to line of glitter. Using your hot glue gun, glue in two places. First, glue glittered end of circle to non-glittered end. Pinch until dry.

Second, fold foam in half again and use a clothes pin to pinch inside pieces.

Set aside and let dry.

Place in decorative container with a few pieces of holiday candy and present to your special valentine... or day care provider, office colleagues, neighbors, or kids.

Special Note: Struble Suds called last night to say that sometime later today, they would post results from our Second Annual Snack Throw Down. Visit them at their site to see whose recipe reigned supreme.

Signing off until tomorrow. And hey... how about sharing a few ideas for Valentine messages we could include in our fortune cookies.